Even if you don’t celebrate Christmas, I’m sure you are busy with year-end activities and preparing to celebrate New Year’s Eve. If you’re like most of us, you’re feeling the “squeeze” to get it all done. (I’ll let you in on a little secret you already know: Some things will probably not get done. And that’s OK.)

To help you stay effective, achieve more and reduce stress, here are a few proven tips on managing time during this busy season:

In honor of Administrative Professionals Day, I want to share my thoughts on why I believe being an executive assistant is a rewarding career. When people tell me, “Anyone can do that job,” it bothers me. It tells me that person doesn’t really know what it takes to be a great assistant.

I hear it from both sides of the desk. I hear assistants talk about their job or the profession as if it is no big deal. I hear managers or Human Resource Professionals say it doesn’t take any special skill to be an administrative assistant. These people are naïve, to say the least.

A true Executive Assistant must do over 100 things well. A stellar Executive Assistant must think of every detail for every function such as calendar management, travel planning, meeting preparation and execution, and e-mail management. Those are just the fundamentals.[Read more…]

Don’t you hate that feeling when stress starts to build up, until you reach your boiling point and you feel like you just can’t take it any more? When most of us get to that point, there’s a solution: venting. You vent to your friends, your family, or other administrative professional colleagues, who understand the pressure of your job.

Venting makes us feel like we can take action, in a situation where we really don’t have any power. Since we don’t have enough control to change the situation, the only thing we can do is vent. Besides, venting makes us feel better. Or, at least, we think it does… [Read more…]

Ever feel like when you get to the end of the day, you’ve worked really hard but don’t have much to show for it?

To prevent these moments, we can choose to work smarter, instead of harder.

The energy of springtime (even for us in the land of eternal summer) is ripe for planting new seeds, starting new projects, and getting in the creative flow. Once the project is rolling, we might notice that we’ve taken on too much, adding to our already full plate. [Read more…]